Recap...

Seems as though I have been a bit absent from this blog for a while... fortunately, my cycling and training hasn't :)

I don't seem to have an excuse as I've had plenty of time... time I have spent watching Netflix or aimlessly scrolling through 100's of Strava activities of athletes I follow... Instead, I could have been writing a blog update on my own activities.

I can't blame it on a lack of activity either... there was a whole season of hill climbs, acceptance into the Nationals, the Nationals itself, the off season, the winter training and now; the beginning of the new season. 

There wouldn't be much point in back tracking now... so here's a quick recap:

UHC26 - T1 Diabetes Hill Climb - 10th - smashing my previous PB
UHC80 - Chippenham & DW - 4th - best position in a HC yet
UHC35 - VC Walcot - 5h - close to podium again
UHC90 - Severn RC - 7th - noticing everyone around me improving faster than me
UHC40 - Bath CC - 6th - not a bad race
UHC20 - Team Tor - 9th - not really my type of course

Overall in the series I took 5th. Big improvements on last year... aiming for a top 3 next year :)

National Hill Climb (Bank Road, Matlock) - I got accepted. Spent 3 days in Matlock riding the hill and enjoying the town. Raced. Had the best race of my life. Finished 42nd. 10s off 10th and 22s off first. 523W for 2:38.

Best Bike Split calculates I would need 4lb of weight saving and an extra 60W to win... Game On!

I then took some time off (2 weeks - not enough time). Put 14lb of fat on. Started a very high training load. Caught the flu. Took 3+ weeks off. Lost a lot of fitness. Took nearly 2 months to feel better again. Surprisingly, my last FTP test put me at 326W (4.9W/kg). A massive PB in both and I feel stronger than ever. That would put me at 5.2W/kg at race weight. Still 8lb over weight (which is not consistently coming off each week).

I've taken up a new type of racing... Critiriums (and at some point - Road Racing). Going to get rid of my TT gear and focus on a lighter road bike. At the same time, enjoy some group races and the odd TT on a road bike instead.

I will do a full blog on the Crit racing soon as it deserves it's own post it's so awesome!

Until then...